Keep On Trying
by Whelmed And Realistic
Summary: Robin can never seem to stay out of trouble for long. But when things get out of hand, who does he call, and what should he do? Rated T because I'm paranoid. My first fanfic... kinda nervous. Pairings are Supermatian.. Wally and Artemis still hate each other and Robin's single. Mostly Robin-Centric. Enjoy, and PLEASE review! XD
1. Chapter 1

The sky was an inky grey, as every individual building cast long, dark shadows across the almost empty streets. The wind rushed in Robin's face and he heard the faint "click" of his grappling gun connecting with the metal frame of a window sill fifteen feet above. Quickly but silently, he jumped, and allowed his light and extremely agile body to be carried up onto another Gotham skyscraper. It was a quiet night, with only the sounds of angry drivers and people laughing filling the streets. Robin quickly ran to the edge of the building and leapt off, without a single strand of fear showing across his handsome features. Yet again, he shot his grappling gun and, with perfect aim, was carried onto a red brick bank. All was silent, and this began to worry him. Not a single sign of distress and he had been on patrol for nearly two hours. In any other city, he would have considered this normal. But this was Gotham, home of the clown prince of crime. Not a night went by without a single mugging or murder, giving Robin a reason to be suspicious. Batman was on the other end of the city, driving in the Batmobile on his way to join Robin after handling some "league business", yet it would still be another twenty minutes before the Dynamic Duo reunited. Robin didn't find this disconcerting at all. He'd done plenty of patrols on his own, and was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. He was the Boy Wonder after all. Plus, if there ever was an emergency, there was at least a dozen different Zeta tube points hidden around the city that he could easy reach in thirty seconds or less. With nothing else to do, he continued his prowl, ready to pounce on any criminal that stepped out into the light.

Batman drove at a relaxing but quickly-paced speed on his way to rendezvous with Robin. He'd just come from a rather long league meeting concerning a number of topics, and was enjoying the cool breeze that gently whipped his face. His cowl was thick enough to block out a majority of the moving air, but he could still feel it in small amounts as it seemed to fill him with a new sense of energy. The roads were practically deserted, something he was grateful for. After spending the last six hours in a room full of super heroes, the only person he wanted to spend time with was Dick, as for he needed to socialize with someone other than the big blue boy-scout on a personal level. Ever since taking the former circus boy in, a large part of him was less cold, and he was beginning to feel emotion again; something that was frozen and hadn't been felt for years after his parents' murder. With a silent city tonight, his bat-sense was going nuts. Never in all of his years on the job had there been a single crime-free night. Soon, thoughts of a larger scheme in play began to fill his mind. But with a single push on his communicator, and hearing the calm and bored voice of Dick answering his summons, his mind began to ease.

"Robin here," said Dick in a neutral tone.

"Status Report?" Bruce replied in an equally gravelly voice. Even though he knew Robin would have alerted him had something occurred, he didn't want to take any chances. Gotham was a city one had to know well in order to understand, and remained unpredictable even to the well-trained eye.

"All's good, Batman. There hasn't been a single sign of crime all ni-," Bruce waited and increased his speed when Robin hesitated. "Hold that thought. I think someone's finally decided to come out and play!" Robin continued. Batman distinctly heard a signature cackle before responding.

"What's your situation?" Batman asked, in a solid tone.

"Robbery suspects fleeing on foot. There's at least six of them here, four armed with pistols, and two with high voltage tasers. They're heading southbound towards Gotham Memorial Park, and are wearing matching black leather jackets with bright red capital J insignia on the back." Dick replied in an excited tone. Bruce couldn't blame him. Dick was naturally extremely energetic, and even though he could handle much longer, less eventful nights, it must have been almost a blessing to finally see some action.

"My E.T.A is approximately 5 minutes. Can you handle this until then?" Bruce asked, already knowing the answer

"Are you kidding me? Of course I can! See you soon. Robin, out!" The comm. link then went dead, allowing Batman to focus on the roads, for he was now driving at top speed.

He'd been on patrol for an hour and ten minutes. And still nothing. No crime, no disturbances or major issues. Suddenly, his comm. link went off, almost making him jump. Almost.

"Robin here." He reported.

"Status report." Batman ordered in a steel tone. He sounded grumpy. 'But,' thought Dick, 'I guess that's what you feel like after six hours of pointless discussions.

"All's good, Batman. There hasn't been a single sign of crime all ni-" responded Dick, when he was interrupted by a sign of movement. With the view from his high perch, he was able to see quite a distance. Two streets down, he saw six men, all in matching leather jackets with a large capital J insignia on the back, running from a small drugstore, when suddenly, as he suspected it would, an alarm went off. Grabbing his grappling gun, he began his pursuit, laughing his signature cackle as he leapt off the building he was situated on. "Hold that thought. I think someone's finally decided to come out and play!" He said, a hint of excitement filling his voice.

"What's your situation?" Batman asked.

"Robbery suspects fleeing on foot. There's at least six of them here, four armed with pistols, and two with high voltage tasers. They're heading southbound towards Gotham Memorial Park, and are wearing matching black leather jackets with bright red capital J insignias on the back."

"My E.T.A is five minutes. Can you handle this till then?" Even though Robin knew it was just a formal question, disbelief filled his voice as he quickly responded to his mentor.

""Are you kidding me? Of course I can! See you soon. Robin, out!" He quickly ended the conversation, needing to focus on the battle at hand. The suspects were fleeing on foot, so it had been easy for him to gain ground. After all, he may not be the Flash, but he had his ways to make up for a lack of powers. Quickly, he back-flipped onto a large oak tree branch, keeping his cover covert. This was one of his specialties. It was easy for him to discreetly sneak up on someone and them not notice until it was too late. The park was now deserted, except for the six matching jacket criminals. Before any of them could notice, he jumped down from his hiding spot, without making a sound, and took out the guy in the back by applying pressure to an effective pressure point. It took the rest of the men a minute for them to realize that one of their crew members was down and not contributing to their hushed conversation, giving Robin plenty of time to plan his attack. With a swift roundhouse kick to the lead guy's head, chaos ensued.

Dick jumped high into the air, spring-boarded off the largest of the group's shoulders, and knocked him out as he backflipped onto the ground. The rest of the four robbers were effectively taken out of the equation, and before long, all six men were sprawled on the green grass, eyes rolled or rolling into the back of their heads as unconsciousness took over them and relieved them of the pain their aches and bruises would give them in the morning. Just as Robin was about to call police Commissioner Gordon and tell him about his the night's events, he spotted a small gift on the ground, that was slowly and steadily blinking a red pulse. Carefully and cautiously, he knelt to the ground and read the card tied to the bow.

Mistah J

Is here to play!

The bomb is set!

Now game, set, match!

Realizing what deadly device lay beneath the brightly coloured packaging, Robin made a break for it. At the opposite end of the park, he could see a group of cameramen and a reporter. As he ran, he motioned at them and yelled for them to move. They were pretty far from the bomb, so he assumed they would be safe. He was almost at the end of the blast radius, when suddenly his time ran out. A deafening "BOOM" filled his ears, and he could feel the scorching heat on the back of his cape, singing the edges. He was thrown forward, losing his balance. Everything happened so fast. He felt his head hit cold metal, and heard the sound of sirens and voices in the distance. Darkness slowly took control of him, and before long, unconsciousness overtook him.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:**

**Hey guys! Its been a while since I last updated... (try to block all the flying tomatoes and rotten fruit being chucked my way..) Honestly! I'm SUUUPPPPPEEERRRR sorry 'bout that. My dog ate my laptop's charging chord, and a new one costs like $98.00... Sooooo yeahhhhh. I've been having to use my parent's computer without them knowing, You see, they think that fanfiction is a "social distraction," and a waste of time. Honestly, I read like 3 hours of fanfiction a day (mostly when I'm ****_supposed _****to be asleep, and I don't know what I'd do without it. I wanna thank the one person who reviewed on this story and asked me to keep writing... That was really motivating. I've been hoping to update this chapter before Christmas eve, and so, here you are, on December. 24th, 2014, at 4:44 p.m! Hope you enjoy! Reviews would be gr8! Anyhooooowwwwww, I gotta go. Soooooooo... THX GUYS! (I apologize for any mistakes or bad grammar... I haven't had time to proofread)! OHHHH! And I forgot to mention that I've made some alterations to the first chapter, 'cause the plot wasn't making sense with the second chapter. Please read that before reading this new chapter! Thhxxx my awesome peeps! Ciao!**

**OHHH! I almost forgot! **

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE! IF I DID, BUYING A NEW CHARGING CHORD WOULD ****_NOT_**** BE SUCH A BIG CHALLENGE! (#firstworldproblems)**

**-W&R**

**Meanwhile, in Mount Justice:**

Even in the training room, Kaldur could still hear the constant bickering between Kid Flash and Artemis. A headache was beginning to cloud his mind, distracting him from the task at hand. Next thing he knew, he was lying on his back, breathing heavily. Somehow, while he wasn't paying attention, Black Canary had gained the upper hand, and swiftly taken him down with a strong kick to his chest.

"Aqualad. Status: Fail" boomed the computer's monotone voice.

"Good job, Kaldur. Next time, try to keep your head in the game. Never take your focus off you opponent. We'll work on your hand-to-hand combat again next session." With that, Black Canary swiftly made her way into the zeta tubes. A bright white light flashed, and the older hero was gone. After taking a quick shower, and a looooooooooong, well deserved drink of salt-water, Kaldur rejoined the rest of the team, Robin excluded. Their youngest member was doing the Dynamic Duo gig with Batman, and wouldn't return for who knew how long.

As soon as he walked through the doorway, the dark-skinned Atlantean let out a barely audible sigh. Wally was speeding around the room, looking for the television remote, as Artemis snickered in the corner, an evil grin spread across her face. M'gann was is in the kitchen, day dreaming, as smoke billowed from the oven. Superboy was entertained by the static on the T.V, seemingly un-phased by any of the events around him.

"Where'd you put it? Seriously, I'M NOT JOKING!" yelled Wally. A yellow and red blur stopped right in front of the resident archer, and before long, her snickers escalated to loud hoots of laughter. Kaldur now understood why. The remote was taped (quite excessively) to Kid Flash's back, but was seemingly unnoticed by the speedster. The team leader couldn't help himself, and allowed a small grin to cross his dark features.

"Wally, I'd check your back before you do any harm to Artemis," warned Kaldur. With a humiliated look, Wally reached back and yanked the remote from underneath the tape. M'gann began to finally realize that her cookies were on fire, and released a loud yelp. Hearing the shocked cries of his girlfriend seemed to wake up the dazed clone, and he quickly joined the forgetful martian, attempting to put out the flames. Wally ran over and plopped onto the couch, sending a nasty glare at Artemis in the process. Kaldur joined him, and watched as Wally began to rapidly change the channels.

"_Call 1-800-668.."_

"_Buy Kool-Kat Tires for…"_

"_Baby, don't leave me.."_

"_Tonight in Gotham, a robb…"_

"Wait, go back" ordered Kaldur (politely). With a quick push of a button, the television screen came back into focus on the _Gotham Local News Channel. _An attractive blonde reporter's image filled the screen, but she seemed out of breath, and slightly disheveled. Upon hearing Kaldur's words, the rest of the team had gathered around the T.V, curious as to what was transpiring in the Boy Wonder's domain.

"_This evening, while interviewing local pac-man champion, John Kelly, me and my camera team were alerted to an in-progress robbery at a local drugstore. When we arrived on scene, the police were yet to come. However, we did catch a glimpse of the Boy Wonder, as he trailed six suspects to Gotham Memorial Park. I am currently broadcasting a live report of the epic battle occurring behind me here." _The reporter moved from in front of the camera, revealing Robin as he quickly, yet effortlessly, took down all six men. "Wow. Is it always like that in Gotham?" M'gann asked Wally.

"From what Robin tells me, this is small compared to some of Gotham's other issues. Trust me, it's not a normal city like Star or Central. Gotham's different. It's just so much…..darker. That's why Bats doesn't like it when other super's come to visit. It's his and Robin's territory. I mean, come on, they have _the freaking Joker_! Not to mention Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and a whole bunch of baddies." Wally watched as M'gann's expression morphed from curiosity to horror.

"Wow, I didn't know it was that bad...It's a wonder Robin's so...cheerful!"

"SHHHHHHH! Robin's found something!" Artemis interjected. Everyone faced the T.V once again, and watched in confusion, as Robin picked up a small box, wrapped like a present. The Boy Wonder quickly read the card attached, and jumped up and began to run.

"_It appears our young vigilante has found someth-" _began the reporter when she was suddenly interrupted by Robin's urgent shouting.

"_MOVE! EVERYONE RUN! NOW" _yelled the young teen, the rest of his team members eyes glued to the screen. Suddenly, a loud "BOOM" echoed through the speakers, and the television screen went to static.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Wally yelled, attracting the attention of his shocked teammates.

"How are WE supposed to know, Baywatch?" Artemis shot back, her body tense. Without warning, the T.V channel came back to life, and the five teens watched as the reporter picked herself up off the ground, dust covering her expensive black and white outfit.

"_We are returning to you, live, after having technical difficulties. My cameramen and I were caught in the aftermath of a rather large explosion. Robin, was at the scene. We haven't seen or heard from since… WAIT! Over there!" _The reporter pointed to an unconscious Robin, lying face down on the ground. Small movements proved that he was slowly waking, and before long, he was lethargically pulling himself up into a standing position. Blood poured from a head wound, (it appeared as though he had hit a park bench rather hard) and his cape was singed around the edges. The teen's face was covered in soot, sweat, and, of course, a look of determination. His classic domino mask had remained firmly in place. They watched as he made his way over to the camera crew, when the young hero suddenly stopped still, halfway there.

"Joker." The team heard him hiss, as he slowly turned 360*.

"Well, my, my, my. Isn't it far past your bedtime, little one?" said an eerily happy voice. Out of the shadows that concealed him, emerged a tall, skinny man. He was wearing a disgusting (in Artemis' opinion, it was even more deranged than his face) purple suit, with a polka-dot bow tie. A demented, and abnormally large red smile crossed his clown-like features, as he twirled a blood stained knife in his left hand. Slowly, and in a nonchalant manner, he walked over and leaned against one of the few remaining trees not reduced to ashes. "However, I've been rather hungry lately. Maybe I'll get to play with my food tonight. After all, as I've told you before, I've always wanted to carve this little bird!"


End file.
